Jeff Bezos is creating a planned economy, with algorithms instead of a politburo. Amazon seeks efficiency and growth more than profit, and the result is this juggernaut. It’s optimizing something… but it’s optimizing away humanity.
(See also articles previously mentioned: AI has already taken over; it’s called the corporation, and Dude, You Broke the Future. See also classic Slate contrarianism in which Reihan Salam thinks Amazon is awesome.)
I am not making this up
China wages war on funeral strippers.
Mainstream media
Noted Republican intellectual, National Review contributor, convicted electoral-finance felon, and AOL subscriber Dinesh D’Souza is going whole-hog on insulting the survivors of the Parkland, FL shooting.
Everyone is focused right now on the fact that Dinesh D’Souza is a horrible person, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that he’s also not very bright.
Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) February 21, 2018
Bari Weiss, the New York Times opinion journalist who first came to fame after being outraged that Twitter would be rude to her over a minor gaffe, is shocked, shocked, at how quickly conservative intellectuals have fallen to the level of Dinesh D’Souza:
I know I should be over it, but the speed at which the organized conservative movement became the ideological home of Marion Le Pen, Seb Gorka, Nigel Farage, Dinesh D’Souza and their ilk remains shocking to me.
Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) February 22, 2018
Of course, this has been their swamp for a very long time. As Jeet Heer and many others point out (again and again and again and again, to no avail) D’Souza is and has been a mainstream conservative intellectual since he was an undergrad at Dartmouth in the 1980s writing appallingly racist articles about affirmative action and outing gay students. Fascist sympathies? Here? In the … wait, the National Review endorsed Franco, didn’t they? Yes, they did.
“Mainstream media,” although that term has been smeared to meaninglessness by the right, confuses neutrality with objectivity. And in trying to remain neutral they forget that there are, in fact, evils in this world. And that the Republican party has sided with them again and again for decades. Why are random teens better at asking questions of Marco Rubio? Because they’re not afraid to sound biased when they ask Marco Rubio what he plans to do to keep them from getting shot to death.
Meanwhile, Rebel Media, a right-wing outlet, have started their own investment fund, because of course they have. And Milo, his “feminism is cancer” t-shirt sales flagging, is now hawking supplements on Infowars. As Jeet Heer notes (again and again and again, to no avail), “Much of North American right-wing politics is best seen as a grift rather than an ideology.”
Wait, what now?
No, “vagility” isn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds. Still important, though.
A fascinating study of religious belief and its impact on WAIT YOU DID A RANDOMIZED HUMAN TRIAL OF WHAT?
DIY gene modification a bad idea, says DIY gene modification pioneer.
New York Fashion Week, but with WAY better captions.
Steadily growing influence of left-wing criticism
Another review of Kids These Days…
Cultivating joy
Chinese pupper appears to be flying.
This is kind of gross but also wonderful: there is a rare species of pink slug.
Secretly Ironic 